Memorial Day weekend is upon us and I’m guessing that more than one of us will be consuming some beer this weekend whether at home, at a neighbors cookout or at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As always, let’s make these beers count!

For those of you attending the Indy 500 on Sunday – remember that you are welcome to bring your own beer to the track! In my mind, that’s a great feature of the race as we’re not stuck with the selection of beers that the Speedway may, or may not, have available for us to purchase at $10 per. Just remember these points:

No bottles allowed. Cans, cans cans. You can bring the cans in any size including the very popular Bell’s Oberon 5 liter mini-keg. If you can’t drink it all yourself it’s a great way to make some friends! Boulevard Wheat, Wittekerke Witbier and Sun King cans would also be great choices.

Your cooler can be no larger than14″ x 14″ x 14″. So make sure your beer all fits in that space if you want it to stay cool.

There’s no ice to buy at the track. Bring your own.

Check out the official Indianapolis 500 Digital Guest Guide here, or read the Hoosier Beer Geeks great rundown on which canned beers to take to the track here.

There are also some interesting beer connections to the Indianapolis 500 that are worth noting.

Watch for Conquest Racing’s Bertrand Baquette this weekend. He’s starting at the 24 spot (car #36) and hails from one of our favorite beer countries, Belgium. More importantly, the Brugge Brasserie logo will adorn the nose of his car (you can just barely see it in this picture). As a Belgian native, Bertrand has got to be very excited to find such great, Belgian style beer in Indiana and it is great to see a local brewer getting some advertising and promotion in the biggest single day spectator event in the world!

I hear from Ted Miller that Bertrand was very impressed with the beers from Brugge, Indiana. But I’m sure he’d rather be drinking milk come Sunday.

Tomas Scheckter will be driving the number 23 car from row 7 and also carrying a beer related logo, the Laverstoke Park Farms logo drawn by Tomas’ 7 year old brother (near the upper right corner of this picture). Laverstoke Park Farms is an organic farm in the UK owned by Tomas’ father, Jody Scheckter. Jody is better known for being the 1979 Formula One World Champion, so he knows more than a little bit about racing. Laverstoke Park Farm produces organic grain and hops that are brewed into Laverstoke Organic Ale and Organic Lager at Fullers in London. The beers have just this week arrived in Indiana.

Of course, the Indianapolis 500 has a long history and tradition of being associated with beer. Back in the 1930’s, Falls City (Louisville, KY – sort of local) was an official sponsor of the race and Miller Brewing has been a major sponsor in more recent years.

I just spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Victory Field with my lovely wife and daughter enjoying a sunny day of baseball and a few good beers. Sitting on the outfield grass I couldn’t help but feel blessed that the beer gods had smiled enough on me that local brewers like Oaken Barrel, Sun King and Upland would be represented at the ballpark in addition to great brews from Bell’s, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. Truly, I was blessed to have such choices.

But why can’t every ballpark, stadium or concert venue have such choices? It’s a question I am often asked about and a situation I sometimes despair over.

Why can’t there be great craft beers at venues like Verizon Wireless, Conseco Fieldhouse or Lucas Oil Stadium?

Ever vigilant and timely, our friends at Hoosier Beer Geek have put together a terrific guide to beers available to all of our visitors to Indianapolis for this weekend’s Final Four basketball championship.